Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Kim Siever writes about the consistent choice of right-wing governments to use anti-tax rhetoric to goose corporate profits at the expense of the public. Jeff Rubin rightly questions why Canada's tax system is set up to favour passive and inherited wealth over productive labour. And Kate Aronoff suggests banning yachts as one of the more glaring examples of gratuitous wealth accumulation and resource destruction.

- Leah Stokes highlights how California's extreme weather (and resulting infrastructure failures) are just a taste of what the future will look like if we don't wean ourselves off of fossil fuels. And David Uhlmann offers a reminder that climate change is still among the most important ballot issues in the U.S.

- Susan Wright discusses the justified lack of trust Albertans have in the Kenney government to make even minimal investments in public health and education - and the difficulty that creates in trying to set up a safe return to school. Dan Levin reports on the inconsistent reporting of community spread and outbreaks in U.S. schools. And Marc Smith's report on Saskatchewan's criteria for declaring a COVID-19 patient to be "recovered" raises a host of questions about the province's handling of "long-haulers".

- Meanwhile, the Harvard Gazette reports on new research showing how children can be silent spreaders of COVID-19 - making it essential to minimize the danger of mass spreading events in overcrowded and underresourced classrooms. And Jason DeParle makes the case for a family allowance to reduce the harm the coronavirus may do to a generation of children.

- Joanna Chiu notes that many Canadians are looking to more worker-friendly policies from Europe as means of managing the added strain of COVID-19. But Abha Battarai discusses how after a few months of recognition, grocery workers are now being treated as little more than cannon fodder. And Duncan Stuart writes that the continued rise of precarious work puts everybody at risk.

- Finally, Chris Hall interviews Jagmeet Singh about the NDP's expectations if the Libs expect any support in a fall throne speech - with investments in child care and a strengthened social safety net ranking as the top priorities. And Alex Ballingall writes that Singh is following in the NDP's proud tradition of trying to negotiate benefits for people out of a reluctant and self-interested Liberal government.